And They Played Shang-a-Lang

• Matt Trueman
• 20 August 2012

This article is from 2012.

Bay City Rollers jukebox musical is boisterous good fun

If a semi-autobiographical jukebox musical about salad days in Scotland sounds grim -- and it should -- Derek Douglas’ nostalgia fest is surprisingly good fun. Local amateur company Craft Theatre’s 15-strong cast perform with such gusto and evident enjoyment that you can’t help but give in.

In reality, it’s more of a skit-night and mass karaoke session than a musical per se, but, at it’s best, Liam Rudden’s production has a tumultuous comic brio.

Douglas shows us a series of Bash Street Kids-style snapshots, from the playground to the smoking sheds. The school disco sketch is all familiar awkwardness; boys on one side, girls on the other, communication reduced to: ‘Will your mate dance with mah mate.’ A corking nativity scene, overseen by Niloo Far Kahn’s wannabe auteur schoolteacher, descends into chaos, particularly when one weak-bladder causes an unintended kind of angelic shower.

Slapdash and boisterous, with a cast that you just want to be part of, And They Played Shang-A-Lang is Chirpy-Chirpy (Cheep-Cheep).

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 558 7272, until 26 Aug, 12.50pm, £10 (£8).